April 13-15, 2012
Apr 13 04:04 Questioning President Potter's questionable spending decisions Apr 14 03:48 SF-based superPAC's mudslinging against Chip Cravaack Apr 15 07:53 Banaian townhall starts with affordable housing, ends with Photo ID Apr 15 08:27 The war on conservative women Apr 15 10:18 When monsters patrol the classrooms Apr 15 12:45 DFL storylines crystallizing Apr 15 15:27 It's not the original story, it's the spin
Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Questioning President Potter's questionable spending decisions
It's no secret that I've been critical of a number of President Potter's decisions. When I heard that President Potter hired a California marketing company to improve SCSU's image , I got upset. Here's what President Potter said in announcing that hiring:
As some of you probably know, we have been working with Earthbound Media Group to create a new branding strategy. This California firm has deep expertise in social media and a keen eye for the truth. They are helping us to identify the words and images that will tell Minnesota and the world what makes St. Cloud State special. Strategy, which comes before the development of specific marketing campaigns, serves as a decision making framework for every aspect of how we tell our story. Thus, it is imperative that we get the strategy right before we begin craft the campaigns that will address each of our important audiences.
In their study of media and social media and through conversations with students, faculty and staff, alumni and community partners, the Earthbound folks discovered that we, especially students, are saying positive things about St. Cloud State. And yet many refer to us as a 'Quiet giant', that we're hiding our light under a basket, so to speak.
Even more concerning, they found that negative perceptions from many outsiders who control the 'blogosphere' are not grounded in reality. In their language, we have a 'brand gap', a gap between perception and reality.
First, the people that participated in EMG's focus groups weren't randomly selected. They were hand-picked. Next, I'd love hearing President Potter explain why morale is so low if "students, faculty and staff, alumni and community partners" are "saying positive things about" SCSU.
Make no mistake about it. Morale on campus is low. The faculty isn't happy with President Potter, either. That was verified when faculty essentially gave COSE Dean David DeGroote a vote of no confidence. I've heard that the vote wasn't close, either.
If the things that President Potter said in that speech are verifiably false, what other things should be questioned? Was EMG hired to 'verify' a predetermined outcome through rigged focus groups?
If they were hired with that intent, then it's justifiable to think that the money SCSU spent in hiring EMG wasn't money well spent. It was money spent on a CYA operation.
At a time when budgets were being cut, how could President Potter justify paying more than $500,000 for EMG's services?
President Potter made that speech in August, 2011.
A closer reading of EMG's statement indicates that they aren't great communicators. First, there's this paragraph:
Earthbound Media Group's (EMG) Co-Founder and Chief Visionary Officer Damien Navarro recently spoke at St. Cloud State University's (SCSU) Fall Convocation ceremony where he unveiled the universities new 'Education for Life' branding campaign created by the interactive communications agency in partnership with the school's marketing and communications department. The event also saw university President Earl H. Potter III and President of Student Government Samantha Ivey join Navarro in the addressing the audience consisting of faculty and students and provided for the unveiling of the branding initiative that hopes to change external perceptions of on-campus realities.
Not to be nitpicky but the grammar in that oversized paragraph is, at minimum, unprofessional. If I had written their press release, it would've looked like this:
Earthbound Media Group's (EMG) Co-Founder and Chief Visionary Officer Damien Navarro recently spoke at St. Cloud State University's (SCSU) Fall Convocation ceremony, where he unveiled the University's new 'Education for Life' branding campaign.
The branding campaign was created by the interactive communications agency in partnership with the school's marketing and communications department.
University President Earl H. Potter III and Student Government President Samantha Ivey joined Navarro in the addressing the audience consisting of faculty and students. The event served as the official unveiling of the branding initiative that hopes to change external perceptions of on-campus realities.
Nothing says 'Don't take me seriously' quite as effectively as a statement filled with misspellings, poor punctuation and long sentences and oversized paragraphs.
That's just one more reason why it's impossible for me to justify paying EMG hundreds of thousands of dollars for a marketing plan.
Taxpayers deserve to be treated better than that.
Posted Friday, April 13, 2012 4:04 AM
Comment 1 by eric z at 13-Apr-12 08:19 AM
Potter should have hired Landform to do the rebranding.
They're local. Their rebranding coup, calling the failed Ramsey Town Center "the COR" and registering or having that registered as a trademark.
A real Wowser super dynamic performance, yes/no?
Same doldrums in today's real estate market, but getting a five figure monthly amount from City of Ramsey is nothing to sneeze at.
Oh, and causing a big sign to be put up along Highway 10, between Anoka and Elk River, reminiscent of the monolith in Kubrick's film, 2001, but with an electronic banner ad section to distract drivers. Sign said "COR" of all things. Now if Potter had a contract with Landform, think of a big monolith saying "SCSU - A Quiet Giant" or whatever the rebrand is/might be.
Imagine it. Outside of whatever SCSU building houses Potter's Office. That would be special. 30 feet tall, or bigger, and flashing news-and-promotions banner advertising night and day.
It could be a Quiet Giant, right there on campus. Bright and gaudy, but quiet.
Mentioning a half million dollar figure, the California folks did score about as well with SCSU as Landform over time scored with City of Ramsey.
I feel your pain on this one, Gary, but I suppose it's our fault for between us lacking "a keen eye for the truth." We just get the possessive case of nouns correct, apostrophe and all, or try to; and when a "branding initiative" "hopes" for something, we think to rewrite the sentence correctly.
So, aside from a detail or two, this Earthbound band might ultimately steal the "great communicator" mantle from the Gipper. In a few years as they mature. But they've Landform in front of them in the chase. And I do concede Landform has a lead, grammatically.
Comment 2 by Patrick at 13-Apr-12 08:20 AM
Earl forgets the first lesson many learn in life "perception is reality". SCSU has always had a hard time shaking their party school image; just the other day I ran into a guy who had an SCSU sweatshirt on and he saw my Aviation logo. He mentioned parties he went to and I said how about that downtown scene - his reaction "heck that's why I went there".
Earl is approaching this whole "re-branding", "reorganization" and whatever as trying to put an oversized round peg into a square hole. He just doesn't get it that lasting and effective change comes from within and starts with leadership that understands his employees, customers (students/parents) and external constituencies.
Comment 3 by Gary Gross at 13-Apr-12 09:26 AM
Patrick & Eric, SCSU has gone downhill under Potter's watch. There have been a few successes but overall, it hasn't been a great ride under President Potter.
If money is going to be spent on an outside marketing firm, isn't it President Potter's affirmative responsibility to check into EMG's work product? Isn't that called doing your due diligence?
Comment 4 by Patrick at 13-Apr-12 11:31 AM
On this page http://www.stcloudstate.edu/admissions/scsu/ I noticed they used an archaic and sexist term - Freshmen
The correct term should be New Entering Students - that is what they called new students back about five years ago.
Comment 5 by eric z at 14-Apr-12 08:34 AM
Patrick - One hundred percent correct at 8:20 AM. You do not build anything strong and lasting overnight. And the expedient of changing terminology is too often seen for what it is, a fake, quick-fix bandaid thing. Or worse, a diversionary tactic. Rome burns but Nero plays a fine tune. Even if the intent and belief is that you have to start somewhere, you do not start with throwing lots of scarce money away on consultants in a set-up where you get told what you structured things in advance to hear. For Potter, his critics might be his best friends, in terms of things he should be hearing, thinking and doing. From the claims the focus group was packed with yes-men [sorry Patrick - make it persons of a yes-persuasion] then you get nothing beyond your own thinking handed back. That you already have without paying good money to bad consultants.
BIG QUESTION: As I wonder with consultants who insinuated themselves into City of Ramsey, the who and how of the selection process matters greatly. Who told Potter these are great folks, or did he dream it alone, or go to a soothsayer? What happened, how were the grammatically challenged PR folks recruited and then selected? Whose brainchild? What objective track record was Potter offered? Or was there cronyism at play, that being the worse suspicion when pricy consulting is bought and a hack job delivered.
SF-based superPAC's mudslinging against Chip Cravaack
Apparently, ABM isn't the only progressive organization that doesn't care about the truth. There's a new kid on the block , at least in Minnesota, who isn't interested in telling the truth, at least the part about telling the whole truth. CREDO SuperPAC is funding a new blog titled "Take Down Cravaack", which is dedicated to misleading people .
Anyone watching this video knows what Chip's saying:
Here's what Take Down Cravaack wrote about a townhall meeting Chip held in Aitkin, MN:
After one Minnesota mom told Rep. Cravaack how her family struggled to pay for her 8-year-old son's bone marrow transplant, Cravaack replied, "That's a great story."
What's missing from Malinda Frevert's article, though, is hugely important. Here's the transcript of the video, starting with a statement from a mother in the audience:
MOM IN AUDIENCE: You can talk all you want to about the decisions the IPAB board is gonna make but I can tell you about some decisions that insurance companies have made. My son was in need of a bone marrow transplant. I carried health insurance. The insurance company denied the bone marrow transplant. Now this is a child.
Now, because of my position, because of the type of work I do, I knew it would take 2 and a half weeks, which is way too long with leukemia because the cells multiply by the hundreds of thousands. But I was successful in getting him that transplant. However, that means there are many parents who have not been successful.
So I don't think we need to be concerned what an IPAB board is going to do when we have insurance companies all over the place deciding what health care citizens, people paying for health care, cannot get.
CHIP CRAVAACK: Now, you had a recourse step?
MOM: I had a recourse because I knew how. And you know what that recourse was? It was the government. It was the government that paid for my son's bone marrow transplant. I was too wealthy by about that much to qualify for medical assistance but the state of Minnesota, because the University Hospital was a research hospital, the state of Minnesota said that this is not an experimental treatment.
CHIP CRAVAACK: Well, that's a great story, one which we all need to aspire to for perservering.
Here's what CREDO's spinmeister turned that into:
Our District Director, Monique Teal, had a sharp response: "Let's get one thing clear: A mom fighting with private health insurance companies to get her son the life-saving treatment he needs and deserves is not a great story; it's an outrage.'
Teal is right. Fighting with an insurance company to get her child treated isn't a great thing. Then again, Chip didn't say that it was. He said that it was a great story because she persisted and got her son the treatment he needed.
That wasn't the last of Teal's statement, though. She finished with this:
"If Cravaack really thinks it's a good idea to end Medicare and leave Minnesotans to fight with private insurance companies for life-saving health care, then he needs to immediately retire to his new house in New Hampshire."
Ms. Teal's statements expose her as a political operative who isn't interested in making life better. She's only interested in defeating Chip Cravaack this fall.
Whether Chip has a home in New Hampshire is irrelevant in terms of finding a solution for this situation. Teal's throwing that shot in there was a political cheapshot. It wasn't constructive statement. Teal didn't propose a solution. Rather than finding a solution, she went straight for the ad hominem attack.
Meanwhile, she omitted the part about Paul Ryan's budget doesn't end Medicare. It reforms it and returns it to solvency. That doesn't fit with Ms. Teal's storyline, though, which means she's left with the ad hominem attacks.
During his 16 months in office, Chip Cravaack has tried finding solutions for Minnesota's biggest problems. He's proven himself to be a solutions-oriented legislator.
CREDO SuperPAC shouldn't be trusted. It should, however, be taken seriously because they're well-funded. Their downfall will be that they aren't interested in making life better for Minnesotans. They're only interested in the politics of personal destruction and in doing or saying whatever it takes to defeat Republicans.
If lying is what's needed, CREDO SuperPAC won't hesitate in lying like they did in their statement.
Posted Saturday, April 14, 2012 2:39 PM
Comment 1 by eric z at 14-Apr-12 08:21 AM
The worry in the GOP camp is that they have a one term wonder?
Comment 2 by Gary Gross at 14-Apr-12 11:55 AM
While it's possible Chip could get beat, the reality is that Chip's done alot to improve life in the 8th. He's done more in 16 months in office to make PolyMet a reality than Lord Oberstar did in 5 years.
That's a big thing with Rangers.
His constituent services are considered excellent, another big thing in the 8th.
The DCCC has painted a big target on his back so he'll have to work hard again. That said, he won't be as easy a target as the DFL thinks.
Comment 3 by Chad Q at 14-Apr-12 08:14 PM
So we are getting an ounce of truth out of a 16 oz story about a child who has cancer. What are the real truths about this story? Did her insurance not cover this kind of disease, was the treatment not worth the risk, etc? Insurance companies need to make decisions based on financial logic whereas the state accepts anyone becuse the taxpayers are footing the bill.
Although Mr. Cravaack is not my congressman I would give him high marks considering who he defeated. I wish I could give Betty accolades but she only represents her party and not the people.
Comment 4 by eric z at 14-Apr-12 09:38 PM
Off point on this thread. But I have read an awful, awful lot about this "job creator" myth that you defend.
So, Jim Graves - job creator, or not?
Help me on that.
Banaian townhall starts with affordable housing, ends with Photo ID
Rep. King Banaian's Friday night townhall meeting started with opening statements from Rep. Banaian and House Majority Leader Matt Dean. It was followed by a pair of questions about whether the bonding bill would include money for affordable housing.
During his presentation, Majority Leader Dean talked about his conversation with a businessman who wants to invest $300,000,000 in Minnesota in the context of the importance of reforming Minnesota's permitting system. He said that the businessman was thankful for the 2 permitting reform bills passed.
Then the businessman said that Gov. Mitch Daniels, (R-IN), just signed a permitting reform bill. The bottom line is that he'd be up and running in six months in Indiana. It would take five months to get the permits in Minnesota.
That's before talking about the costs involved in waiting in Minnesota. Then there's the higher taxes Minnesota businesses pay.
The last 40 minutes of the meeting focused on photo ID-related issues. One woman asked why a person would commit voter fraud knowing that they could get caught and put in jail.
That's been popping up in the DFL's arguments quite a bit lately. It's a flimsy question. There's a huge prison sentence in most states if a person commits second degree murder. Despite the fact that there's a huge penalty, people still commit murders.
One gentleman identified himself as an election worker. He said he's been working elections a long time. He said he hasn't seen voter fraud yet. St. Cloud City Councilman Jeff Johnson highlighted the fact that there was something in the newspaper about someone getting convicted of voter fraud in St. Cloud recently.
I got to ask the final question. I said that I recently wrote an article in which a worker at the Scott County Gov't Center admitted that voter fraud happens. She then admitted that people who get prosecuted for voter fraud still have their votes counted:
INVESTIGATOR: So that's it? It's just kind of the honor system?
WORKER: Yes, I guess, it's, I mean, it's been that way for many, many years, that, you know, Minnesota's been an after-the-fact type of state . And, now, we do catch people, that do things, and they're investigated and charged. But it is, you know, after-the-fact.
By the time voter fraud is detected, the ballot will have been counted. What's worse than that admission is her dismissive attitude:
My election judges have a difficult time with that. It's like "Change the law. Change the law."
King quickly summarized, saying that there were 11,000 votes cast in his race, which he won by 13 votes. He told the attendees that 13 votes is statistically insignificant compared with 11,000 votes.
The other major topic of discussion brought up during the meeting was the need for higher education reform. Councilman Johnson approached the subject by saying that he's been pleased with how elected officials stay in touch with their constituents through townhall meetings.
He then asked Majority Leader Dean and Rep. Banaian if they could name the MnSCU trustee representing the Sixth District. Finally, he said that he knew of no instances where any of the trustees had held a townhall meeting or met with a business roundtable to see what their needs or concerns were.
The point, he said, was that the Board of Trustees wasn't staying in touch with the people they're supposed to represent.
Posted Sunday, April 15, 2012 7:53 AM
Comment 1 by J. Ewing at 15-Apr-12 09:31 AM
The argument that we don't prosecute people for voter fraud means voter fraud doesn't exist suffers from a fundamental flaw. How do you prosecute VOTERS that don't exist. I can register, without any ID whatsoever, under any name whatsoever, and have my ballot count. How will you find me to prosecute me? I may even be a real voter, but I voted twice in two different places under my real name. How do you know that both, or either for that matter, of them were really me? Don't tell me there isn't voter fraud unless you have some way to CHECK for voter fraud.
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 15-Apr-12 10:07 AM
At the meeting, the example was used where people were looking for their car keys under the light on an otherwise dark street, not because that's where they'd lost the keys but because that's the only place where the light shined.
The DFL insists that Minnesota's election system is the best anywhere because the recounts supposedly verify the vote totals. That's like saying a car's tires are good to go because they checked the drivers' side tires. It hasn't dawned on them that someone might've cut the passenger side tires.
The moral of the story is that a) you have to check everywhere for voter fraud and b) you have to have the right detection equipment to detect it with.
Comment 2 by L. Helmer at 16-Apr-12 10:40 AM
J. Ewing - your statement suffers from a fundamental flaw. You cannot register to vote in Minnesota without any id whatsoever under any name whatsoever and have your vote count. Please become familiar with our current law before making extreme, false and inflammatory statements. http://www.sos.state.mn.us/index.aspx?page=204
Response 2.1 by Gary Gross at 16-Apr-12 12:18 PM
L. Helmer, That isn't entirely true, is it? If people couldn't "register to vote in Minnesota without any id whatsoever", there wouldn't be a need for vouching, would there?
As far as I know, vouching just requires a registered voter from that precinct to 'verify' the person's identity. Since when is a person's word considered an official form of identification?
In the future, please refrain from making misleading statements that are easily discredited.
Comment 3 by Charlie Quimby at 16-Apr-12 01:29 PM
Glad to see there's lots of concern about affordable housing in King's district.
The war on conservative women
LANGUAGE ALERT: This video contains disgusting graphic language:
That this neanderthal is a progressive radio talk show host shows how hollow the Democrats' campaign is.
President Obama and other progressives said that Republicans were waging war on women. Conservatives and other constitutionalists highlighted the fact that HHS Secretary Sebelius' regulation that religious institutions had to provide contraception coverage violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
In reality, neanderthals like this progressive talk show host are saying things that demean prominent women. This video doesn't just show an out-of-control talk show host. It's a picture of a man who doesn't respect women, especially conservative women.
Whether it's Hilary Rosen saying that Ann Romney never worked a day in her life or this neanderthal using disgusting language about Wisconsin's Lt. Gov., the reality is that there's tons of proof that progressives see bright, articulate conservative women as an existential threat to their movement.
It's time for Democrats to criticize people using these neanderthal chanting points. For all of President Obama's talk about the need for civility after Gabby Giffords' tragic shooting, the Democrats certainly haven't stopped using disgusting, graphic language in attacking people they don't agree with.
Tags: War on Women , Talk Radio , Progressives , President Obama , Gabby Giffords , Civility , Kathleen Sebelius , Contraception , HHS , Democrats , First Amendment , Establishment Clause
Posted Sunday, April 15, 2012 3:12 PM
Comment 1 by J. Ewing at 15-Apr-12 09:24 AM
Cut them some slack. Personal vilification is all they've got, because they certainly cannot defend their ideas against bright, articulate conservative women. The thought that they are NOT the best and brightest scares them witless, which isn't very far in cases like this one.
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 15-Apr-12 10:00 AM
I won't cut them slack. Just because they're neanderthals that can't control themselves doesn't mean I should cut them slack. I won't cut them slack just because personal villification is all they've got.
Finally, they're witless from the outset. The thought that they aren't the brightest just exposes their fear of not being thought of as the brightest people.
Comment 2 by eric z at 15-Apr-12 10:53 AM
Talk radio really is stupid.
Who listens to it?
Any of it?
There are better things to do with our time on earth.
But what's that got to do with anything of note? Of merit? The Rushbos are unfortunate, but they exist.
Do any of your readers go the Glen Beck or Rush route?
I expect not. Full 100% agreement. Talk radio is for idiots.
Comment 3 by J. Ewing at 15-Apr-12 02:28 PM
Sorry, I forgot the tongue in cheek :-^
Comment 4 by J. Ewing at 15-Apr-12 02:32 PM
Only partly correct, Eric. Talk radio depends on which "side" you listen to, and which host. Sure, most of right-wing talk is entertainment, but there is information to be gleaned from it-- stories the leftwing media do not cover or cover badly. Leftwing talk radio is mostly the kind of stuff shown here-- hate, drivel, and insane talking points. Not entertaining OR informative.
When monsters patrol the classrooms
I was appalled with the teachers' behavior written about in this article . I'm more disgusted with the United Federation of Teachers's protecting these monsters:
Gym and health teacher Willie Laraque was charged with bending a male student over a desk, leaning in to him and saying, "I'll show you what is gay." The Daily News reports Laraque is back in the classroom after paying a $10,000 fine.
Norman Siegel, a high school teacher, was accused of pressing his genitalia against a female student's leg. Siegel only received a 45-day unpaid suspension, "although the arbitrator found that the girl's charge was likely true" and that Siegel "was previously accused of a similar offense," the Daily News writes.
There's also a case involving Edward Cascio, a gym teacher who accepted pornographic pictures from a student...of another student. Cascio was back at work after serving his three-month suspension.
If there's anything as disgusting as these teachers' actions, this is:
The district tried to fire these individuals, but the UFT appealed the decisions to arbitrators, who gave the teachers their jobs back.
If I was a parent of a student at that school, I'd stage a massive protest at the school. I'd also stage protests at UFT headquarters and at the arbitrators' office.
First, UFT shouldn't have attempted to defend the indefensible. The actions that've been documented in this article have been verified. The actions outlined in this article are disgusting and indefensible. These teachers are predators. They shouldn't be allowed to be near children's classrooms ever again.
Second, the arbitrators' decision is disgusting. How could they ignore what these students went through? Don't they feel it's necessary that they protect students? Is it that these mediators are corrupt?
Third, if I was a parent of one of these students, I'd start a charter school to get students away from unionized schools so that perverts like this wouldn't get union protection. If the UFT plans on making a habit of protecting perverts, they should be stipped of their influence and authority ASAP.
(This isn't a call for ending unionization. It's a call to decertify PEU's who protect perverts and put students at risk.)
I'll guarantee that an employee that pressed "his genitalia against a female student's leg" would be a) immediately terminated and b) reported to the police if it happened in the private sector.
In this instance, UFT is defending indefensible, disgusting behavior. This is proof that UFT isn't about "the children." They're about protecting union members, whether they're perverts or not.
That's what corruption looks like. That's why it must be stopped ASAP.
Tags: Child Molestors , Perverts , American Federation of Teachers , Unions , Arbitration , Democrats
Posted Sunday, April 15, 2012 3:03 PM
Comment 1 by eric z at 15-Apr-12 10:49 AM
The sky is falling! The sky is falling. All western culture is in peril. Oh, my!
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 15-Apr-12 11:47 AM
The sky is falling! The sky is falling. All western culture is in peril. Oh, my!Thanks for admitting that you care more about protecting perverts than you care about protecting students. Yes, that is dramatic. The fact that your first instinct is to protect perverts tells me that progressives are a bunch of sick bastards.
DFL storylines crystallizing
If anything is becoming clear, it's the messaging from DFL operatives. This am on @Issue, Ember Reichgott-Junge said that "there's very little that the President can do to lower gas prices.
Later, during the Face-Off segment, ABM executive director Denise Cardinal admitted that the sole criteria for a jobs bill was one that first stole money from the private sector, then redirected by government into government-approved jobs.
First, Reichgott-Junge saying that "there's very little that" President Obama could do about gas prices is partially true. It's impossible for him in the sense that militant environmentalists, along with his own ideological beliefs, prevent him from setting sensible, time-tested energy policies.
It's more true, though, that presidents, acting in the best interest of the American people while ignoring the extremists, can do plenty to lower gas prices.
Laura Brod argued exactly that point. She highlighted the fact that a) the American people know gas prices are higher than they need to be and b) the EPA is driving gas prices higher by putting vast amounts of oil offlimits.
I would've been more blunt about it. This administration's EPA has declared war on the coal industry. They've declared war on oil, too. After the BP spill had been cleaned up in the Gulf, experts expected this administration to lift the drilling moratorium in the Gulf. When this administration refused to lift the moratorium, a judge ordered the moratorium lifted.
Even at that point, this administration refused to lift the moratorium.
That's what a war on fossil fuels looks like.
Here in Minnesota, Denise Cardinal and the dominant socialist wing of the DFL insist that the only think that qualifies as a jobs bill is taking money from taxpayers, then spending that money on one-time projects of the DFL's choosing.
Meanwhile, Brian McClung argued that the GOP's reform agenda is reducing Minnesota's regulatory burden was already paying dividends. That's proven by the fact that Minnesota went from a $6,200,000,000 deficit to an $876,000,000 surplus in less than 15 months.
That's before talking about the improving revenue reports since the February budget forecast.
Whatever happened to "Yes, we can"? When did that turn into "the president, the leader of the free world, is powerless to positively affect gas prices? Whatever happened to the notion that the foundation for dynamic economies are built on free market principles, not centralized control economies?
If President Obama's messaging is going to be a mix of "Yes, we can" one moment, then "I'm powerless" the next, he'll get annihilated on Election Day, 2012.
If ABM's message is going to be based on their definition of a jobs bill, they'd better prepare to get defeated soundly. People are seeing an improving state economy. They'll know that passing the DFL's definition of a jobs bill isn' what brought the economy around.
They'll know that Republicans passed the right legislation that got the economy straightened out. More than anything else, that will affect voters' perception of who should get the credit for Minnesota's improving economy.
It certainly won't be the DFL. They didn't vote for the GOP budget. They didn't offer any constructive alternatives. In fact, when asked if the DFL legislature would off their own budget, Sen. Minority Leader Bakk said "I don't know why we would."
The DFL sat on the sidelines the entire session. They offered only criticism. During this summer's campaign, MNGOP candidates will remind Minnesota voters that they offered substantive proposals while the DFL sat on the sidelines, offering nothing substantive.
Tags: President Obama , EPA , Unemployment , Gas Prices , Inflation , Democrats , Denise Cardinal , Ember Reichgott-Junge , Jobs Bill , DFL , Laura Brod , Brian McClung , Reforms , Regulations , Surplus , Job Growth , MNGOP , Elections 2012
Posted Sunday, April 15, 2012 2:59 PM
Comment 1 by Patrick at 15-Apr-12 01:34 PM
$876,000,000 surplus! guess they have enough money to keep the SCSU Aviation department open now don't they. But then again it really wasn't about the money all along.
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 15-Apr-12 01:57 PM
Patrick, It was much more about President Potter & Dean of COSE David DeGroote than about the costs. That isn't just my opinion, either. That's the opinion of many professors, not just the ones directly impacted by the decision.
Killing a healthy program right when there's a shortage of people graduating from that program makes everyone question whether they're next. That's why on-campus morale is the worst it's been in a generation.
Comment 2 by Jethro at 15-Apr-12 09:51 PM
Killing a healthy, long established program (aviation) that produces employable graduates clearly indicates something happened behind closed doors out of public view. In reading Gary's articles, seems to me the orignal source of this stench can be traced back to the Dean (DeGroote) where aviation was housed. No one could write fiction with this much amusement. Maybe Gary should write a book on this some day. It might be a NY top seller.
Response 2.1 by Gary Gross at 15-Apr-12 10:30 PM
Jethro nailed it with his analysis. Give him a round of applause.
It's not the original story, it's the spin
In the aftermath of Nixon's resignation, the popular cliche was that it wasn't the break-in that got Nixon. It was the cover-up. These days, that can be adapted to a different scandal. In the case of factchecker Politifact, it isn't the initial story that nailed them. It was the spin that nailed them . Here's the first details:
On April 5, Politifact conceded that the 92.3 percent figure cited by the Romney campaign was accurate and, then, promptly, and unbelievably, said that the claims made by the Romney campaign were 'mostly false.'
Here's how Team Romney rocked Politifact:
Politifact's report left many scratching their heads, and one such person was Lanhee Chen, Romney's Policy Director, who fired off an e-mail that eviscerated Politifact's analysis point by point.
'Putting aside the obvious problems with rating an accurate statement mostly false, your analysis in this instance was so inadequate that the piece ended up being little more than Obama for America spin,' Chen wrote.
Chen then noted that Politifact had an 'embarrassing bias and lack of journalistic standards' but 'far more troubling were the selection of your two experts' and rightfully called Politifact out on its blatant biases.
Chen was referring to Gary Burtlett and Betsey Stevenson, the two experts Politifact cited in its takedown of Romney.
As Chen noted, 'Gary Burtless has already donated twice to President Obama's campaign this cycle' and, 'much more inexplicably, Bestey (sic) Stevenson, who you identify simply as 'a business and public policy professor at Princeton University,' was until recently the chief economist for Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis.'
It's impossible to take Politifact seriously when their factcheckers are pro-Obama hatchetmen. It's become fashionable for media outlets to factcheck political ads.
Locally, I only trust Tom Hauser's factchecking. Nationally, I only trust FactCheck.org. They're the most consistent in verifying the facts. They're the people who consistently review the candidates' past statements. They're the gold standard.
It's encouraging to see Mitt hit back at Politifact this early in the campaign. That's a signal that the Obama-loving Media won't get to push him around. That's something the McCain campaign never did.
Tags: Politifact , Factchecking , Obama Administration , Corruption , Democrats , FactCheck.org , Brooks Jackson , Tom Hauser , Nonpartisanship , Mitt Romney , Republicans , Election 2012
Posted Sunday, April 15, 2012 3:27 PM
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